CULTURAL EXPERIMENT
A Cayman Style Collaboratory experiment reimagining Cayman’s national drink through taste, scent, sound, design, and play.
March 2025
Cayman Style Collaboratory
Culture
Food + Drink
Spatial Design
Play
THE IDEA
Swanky is part of Cayman’s cultural memory: bright, citrus-led, homemade, and shared. Swanky & Chill treated that familiar drink as a starting point for collaborative experimentation.
For Cayman Style’s soft launch at the 56th Annual Agriculture Show, local makers, designers, performers and experience-builders translated Swanky into flavours, scent, sound, objects and moments of play. This is the project record: the idea, the people, what visitors encountered, and what the experiment produced.
THE INTERACTION
The visitor journey was simple and social. Each layer offered a different way into the same cultural reference.
01
Sample the OG Swanky, a sparkling Swanky Fizz, the frozen Swanky Iced and citrus-bright Swanky boba.
02
Diffused citrus carried the familiar aroma of lime and orange through the Botanical Lab installation.
03
A Swanky Kitchen Band soundtrack grounded the experiment in Cayman’s musical memory and living tradition.
04
Cooling CO₂ moments, playful props and cosmetic objects made participation part of the story—not an afterthought.
IN MOTION
Short documentary loops from the original project reel bring back its pace, texture and energy.
THE OUTPUTS
Five ways the experiment moved from concept into something visitors could enter, taste, wear and feel.
The immersive lab installation brought Swanky’s ingredients, history and creative possibilities into a walk-through space.
The OG Swanky, Swanky Fizz and Swanky Iced came together as one family of familiar and reimagined drinks.
Caymanera Cosmetics translated Swanky’s citrus scent and colour into a wearable lipgloss.
Cayman Boba paired gummy pearls with Swanky-infused drinks for a playful, textural interpretation.
A sensory photo-booth moment used cool bursts of CO₂ to turn participation into part of the experience.
VISUAL LANGUAGE
The palette moves between deep lagoon teal, glass aqua, citrus peel, warm sun and soft sand. Glass vessels, hand-built forms and botanical cues gave the installation the logic of a lab without losing its Cayman warmth.
THE CULTURAL IDEA
The project did not try to replace the familiar version of Swanky. It created room around it—room for makers to respond, for visitors to compare, and for Caymanian culture to be experienced as something active rather than fixed.
THE PEOPLE
The project came together across disciplines. Creative direction, set design, production, drinks, cosmetics, music and community storytelling all shaped the final experience.
ZEAL Agency · Creative Lead
ZEAL Agency · Creative Lead
Reach Marketing · Experience coordination
Set designer · Installation build
Fusion Mixology · OG Swanky & Swanky Fizz
Cayman Boba · Swanky boba
Caymanera Cosmetics · Swanky lip gloss
Cayman Ice Dream · Swanky Iced
Community storyteller & multi-platform influencer
♪
Soundtrack · Cayman’s musical tradition
RESULTS
The numbers capture reach. The more important result was the conversation: first tastes, family memories, maker-to-maker collaboration, and a familiar Caymanian drink seen with fresh eyes.
free cups of Swanky served
people trying Swanky for the first time
creative contributors across disciplines
sensory entry points: taste, scent, sound and touch
RELATED EXPERIENCE
The digital Botanical Lab extends Swanky & Chill beyond the event. Explore the installation, meet its makers and move through the experiment online.
EXPLORE THE BOTANICAL LAB ↗
DOCUMENTATION
A selection from the original project archive. The complete activation gallery remains available separately.
CAYMAN’S CREATIVE PLAYGROUND
Swanky & Chill is one Cayman Style experiment in treating culture as a living material: researched, respected and opened up for people to experience together. The project connects editorial storytelling with spatial design, local enterprise and interactive media.
CREDITS
Cayman Style Collaboratory · ZEAL Creative Agency · Reach Marketing & Experiences · Charlotte Crocker · Fusion Mixology · Cayman Boba · Cayman Ice Dream · Caymanera Cosmetics · Swanky Kitchen Band · Leanni Tibbetts. Supported by the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Heritage. Special thanks to Hon. Isaac D. Rankine and every visitor who tasted, talked, remembered and played.
